1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to power generation using energy from fluid flow through a cylinder, and more specifically to power generation by a shaft-less radial vane turbine generator. Even more specifically, the present invention relates to power generation by a shaft-less radial vane turbine generator in a hose coupling, such as a fire hose coupling.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Fire hoses are coupled together with fire hose couplings.
These couplings are well known in the art. Typically, one side of a coupling has an expansion ring to attach the coupling to its respective hose. On the other side of the coupling are usually a set of internal or external threads for fastening the coupling to complementary (external or internal) threads of another coupling. Usually, a fire truck is provided with a male connector to which a female coupling is fastened. A fire hose assembly is then concatenated by coupling together sequential male and female couplings.
Firefighters operating in dark and smoke-filled environments are prone to becoming disoriented. In conditions of poor visibility, it is extremely helpful to have some means for the firefighter to determine which way leads to the exit, i.e. which hose direction leads back toward the fire truck. Firefighters may be taught to seek out, for example, the female coupling of the connection as an indicator that this side of the connection leads back to the fire truck. However, this method is not satisfactory because a firefighter, in the heat of the moment, may not remember which coupling points back to the fire truck or he or she may not be able to properly see or feel the couplings. Furthermore, the fire hoses may not have been assembled in the expected (conventional) way, and thus reliance on the assumption that, for example, the female coupling, leads back to the fire truck, may in fact lead the firefighter to head the wrong direction. As will be appreciated, these issues are a matter of life and death to firefighters.
Generally, it is common for firefighters to work in pitch-black conditions as in most fire scenes, the first thing to do is to cut off the electricity in the building that is on fire. Thus, in order to function adequately in such poorly illuminated environment, firefighters usually have to depend upon the light emitting from the flashlight mounted on their helmets. However, since the total equipment that a fully-equipped firefighter has to bear can weight more than 20 kilograms, it is impossible or unbearable for a fireman to attach a heavy and cumbersome high-power flashlight on his/her helmet. Not to mention that a fireman operating a fire nozzle for fighting fire will have to have both hands on the fire nozzle since the high water pressure inside the fire hose causes it to be very heavy, stiff and thus difficult to control, and thus, he/she will have no spare hand or strength to hold on to and operate a heavy high-power flashlight for either illuminating the fire scene or firefighting command.